Motif · from book 2

The xistera

A jai-alai scoop from a Gold Fan Box, matched to the Cesta Punta skill an Earth Hobby Potion gave Carl at random: a metallic basket that retracts into a bracer, hurls a hob-lobber at 250 mph, and retires the slingshot. The AI's plan for him, traced back to cherry bombs tossed off a cutter onto Arctic ice.

First appears: Book 2

Series arc

Through book 5

It recalls whatever it threw, including a doll's head (B5 ch. 22); not reinstalled in time for the pit, so a disco ball goes by hand (B5 ch. 76).

Through book 2

Skill in B2 ch. 5, scoop in B2 ch. 17, cannon in B2 ch. 18.

Through book 3

Banger Spheres — baseball-sized balls of robot scrap — make the xistera the range weapon of the floor: three of them for a Babababoon (B3 ch. 16), one to choke a hatching stage-three monster (B3 ch. 27), and more in the trainyard (B3 ch. 32).

Through book 4

Alarm traps in hollow spheres; throws from a biplane's wing; a custom extension for love-doll heads (B4 ch. 22, B4 ch. 31, B4 ch. 34).

Where they appear

Book	Chapters they are in (of the book's)	Where
2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario	7/26	Ch. 5, Ch. 8, Ch. 17, Ch. 18, Ch. 20, Ch. 21, Ch. 25 · the book's own page
3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook	6/35	Ch. 2, Ch. 7, Ch. 13, Ch. 16, Ch. 27, Ch. 32 · the book's own page
4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods	7/35	Ch. 4, Ch. 12, Ch. 13, Ch. 15, Ch. 22, Ch. 31, Ch. 34 · the book's own page
5 — The Butcher's Masquerade	7/78	Ch. 11, Ch. 22, Ch. 25, Ch. 26, Ch. 28, Ch. 36, Ch. 76 · the book's own page

By book

The xistera in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario

A hobby potion gives Carl Cesta Punta and no explanation (ch. 5); a fan box gives him the scoop (ch. 17); the memory of a senior chief lobbing cherry bombs onto Arctic ice tells him the AI planned it. An orange disintegrates against a saferoom door; hob-lobbers pre-lit in inventory fly at 250 mph (ch. 18); Zev wins — no more slingshot. It retracts into a bracer the gauntlet fits over.

The xistera in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Idle in the trains' close quarters until the Banger Spheres — baseball-sized balls of robot scrap (ch. 16) — and then the range weapon of the floor: a stage-three monster's teeth (ch. 27), a mantaur's head at a distance Carl did not think he could throw (ch. 32).

The xistera in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods

Banger spheres at a thorny devil, a bomb run, a goose (ch. 3, ch. 16); alarm traps sealed in hollow spheres to play Jump Around, though Katia lobs that one by hand (ch. 22); a hob-lobber and a disco ball thrown from a biplane's wing (ch. 31); a potion ball at a puppy's head (ch. 31); and an Enchanted Xistera Extension Slot, custom-made for decapitated love-doll heads, that throws Samantha fifty kilometres (ch. 34).

The xistera in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade

It recalls whatever it threw, including a doll's head (ch. 22); not reinstalled in time for the pit, so a disco ball goes by hand (ch. 76).